Differing meanings in US and British English

Question

I suspect the prepositions in this lesson don’t mean the same in US and British English.

As a Brit, I wouldn’t say either stop by or pop by somewhere. Pass by and go past mean the same as each other and don’t imply you stopped or went inside: for that, I’d use "go", "pop" or "drop" "into" or "in to" or another construction like "I went to see Laurent at his house".

So I’m not clear if "Elle est passée chez Laurent" means she went in to see him or went past his house without stopping?

(Setting aside the usage of "place", as in "Laurent’s place")

Accepted Answer

In French, passer chez quelqu'un typically means to visit someone at their home or workplace, usually for a short time. It implies that the person went inside and had some interaction.
If you want to say that you passed by someone's place without dropping in, you'd say passer devant chez quelqu'un.
passer chez quelqu'un -- to pass by someone (including stopping in)passer devant chez quelqu'un -- passing someone's place (e.g., driving or walking by)passer par chez quelqu'un -- to go some place via someone's place (as a point along the route)

Answer

Thanks, very useful!